Hey, guys. I would love and appreciate some suggestions on my first build.

Hey everyone. Hope everyone is doing well.

I've been really interested in building a desktop for a while, and finally got a good enough job that would support a project financially. This would be my first build completely, and to be honest, I'm still learning and teaching myself from sources people are recommending to me, and my other techno-savvy friends.

I'd like to know if there are any brands I should avoid, or what are some other good brands that I should look into for alternative products.

Thanks so much for everyone's time in advance.

- Jackie

Also: In terms of pricing, Memory Express is an Edmonton based company that will basically match any Canadian site (saves me shipping costs too) for any parts that they carry. Are there any other websites other than the basics (NCIX, Newegg) that I should also look into?

As a side note, I suppose I should mention moderate gaming and photo editing capabilities are what I expect to do with this machine. I intend to have dual monitors, expect to game on full 1080, and possibly want another video card for sli in the future.

First of all...Welcome here!! Well, all your part are far solid. For a first build it's rock solid. Keep it like that. You may want to look at EVGA for the video card since they have a rock solid warranty and service. Also, to find the cheapest price use shopbot.ca! Keep on posting!!!

P.S. You can also look at the HX750 ( the modular version ) or the silverstone strider plus 850W so you will have less un-used cable in the case. That's nice for the look:)

To be honest for what your looking to do with this system you could save alot of money by going with either an AMD build (X4 955, X6 1055) or a 1156 build (I3 530, I5 750) But still have MORE then enough horsepower to get the job done. I do alot of photo editing in lightroom and photoshop, as well as some 3dsmax work and the i3 530 has never come close to lagging behind. Personally I would go with a lower priced CPU/MB/Ram setup and spend the extra money on a bigger video card.

What Resolution will you be gaming at exactly?

These are just my humble opinions, Im in a very similar position as you and I just see the i7 as being overkill for anyone other then benchmarkers, but it really depends on how much money you wanna throw at your build.

Swap the...:
arctic silver 5 for mx3, or the IC7 diamond stuff sold on this website
haf922 for either a fractal define or cm690 II
samsung f3 for a WD Black 1tb 64mb cache (make sure it's the 64mb version)
tx750 for a hx650
hyper 212+ for a venomous X

The 460 is a good choice, but personally I don't like it because it's short and looks ugly in a big case. If your budget allows, get a gtx470, much bigger and beefier and looks better :)

Swap the...:
arctic silver 5 for mx3, or the IC7 diamond stuff sold on this website
haf922 for either a fractal define or cm690 II
samsung f3 for a WD Black 1tb 64mb cache (make sure it's the 64mb version)
tx750 for a hx650
hyper 212+ for a venomous X

The 460 is a good choice, but personally I don't like it because it's short and looks ugly in a big case. If your budget allows, get a gtx470, much bigger and beefier and looks better :)

What would "this" website be just to clarify? I'd like to check out prices.

To be honest for what your looking to do with this system you could save alot of money by going with either an AMD build (X4 955, X6 1055) or a 1156 build (I3 530, I5 750) But still have MORE then enough horsepower to get the job done. I do alot of photo editing in lightroom and photoshop, as well as some 3dsmax work and the i3 530 has never come close to lagging behind. Personally I would go with a lower priced CPU/MB/Ram setup and spend the extra money on a bigger video card.

What Resolution will you be gaming at exactly?

These are just my humble opinions, Im in a very similar position as you and I just see the i7 as being overkill for anyone other then benchmarkers, but it really depends on how much money you wanna throw at your build.

I'd like to be able to game on the full 1080, and I'm pretty set on getting two monitors. I'm keeping in mind for the future that I'd like to get another video card for sli.

My bf's also mentioning that amd and 1156 mobos are bad for new gen sli.

Valid suggestions though. What do you think should be a good price range then for what I'm looking for? Am I going crazy with some of the components?

Everything about your build looks great and would sweeter with the above mods, especially if you could afford to put in an SSD for the OS & programs and make the 1TB drive as you storage for documents/pics/music etc.

If you do wish to step down to the 1156 setup though then I would suggest going with these changes...